Predicting the end of the world - FAIL

Notable predictions of the end

By By JAKE ELLISON

on December 18, 2012 3:18 PM

Photo: Multiple

Image 1of/24

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 24

FAIL - The world did not end (no big surprise) – The rogue planet Nibiru did not hit us; a solar flare did not engulf us ... nothing. The ancient Mayan calendar ended today … and, well, we had some fun with it anyway. NASA warned us it was crap. Not only did the predictions that today was the end fail, we rounded up some other notable end-of-the-world FAILS. They're presented in more or less chronological order starting with the most recent. Also, a H/T to Wikipedia. (Photo: NASA) less

FAIL - The world did not end (no big surprise) – The rogue planet Nibiru did not hit us; a solar flare did not engulf us ... nothing. The ancient Mayan calendar ended today … and, well, we had some fun ... more

FAIL - The world did not end (no big surprise) – The rogue... Photo-3911266.54077 - Times Union

Image 2 of 24

Here's a detail of the troublemaker. The photo shows a replica of the Sixth Monument, which mentions the 13th Baktun, the end of a major 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. And for many the end of the Mayan calendar meant the end of the world. (AP Photo/Israel Leal) less

Here's a detail of the troublemaker. The photo shows a replica of the Sixth Monument, which mentions the 13th Baktun, the end of a major 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. And for many the end ... more

Here's a detail of the troublemaker . The photo shows a... Photo-3910888.54077 - Times Union

Image 3 of 24

Jose De Jesus Miranda attempted to edge out the Mayans by declaring an earthquake would strike the planet and wipe out humanity on June 30. Miranda is a U.S.-based religious leader notable for many things, such as calling himself both Jesus Christ and the Anti-Christ and his followers getting “666” tattooed on their bodies. Judging by his YouTube channel, Miranda went back to business as usual when the world remained intact. (Photo: Children line up with Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda - 2nd left. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) less

Jose De Jesus Miranda attempted to edge out the Mayans by... Photo-3910886.54077 - Times Union

Image 4 of 24

Ronald Weinland, who says on his blog that he has been a minister in the Church of God for more than twenty-five years, and first called for the end of the world to strike on Sept. 30, 2008, then on May 27, 2012, and then revised it all to say that the beginning of the end was in May of this year and the final day will be May 19, 2013. (Photo is a composite from screen grabs) less

Ronald Weinland, who says on his blog that he has been a minister in the Church of God for more than twenty-five years, and first called for the end of the world to strike on Sept. 30, 2008, then on May 27, ... more

Ronald Weinland , who says on his blog that he has been a... Photo-3910885.54077 - Times Union

Image 5 of 24

We almost feel sorry for him: Harold Camping is one of the prolific forecasters of doom in America. He predicted the end would come in 1994, 1995, May 2011 and Oct. 2011, with the rapture and earthquakes being the modes of choice. Nevertheless, the California preacher has been honest about his failure to such a degree that the Huffington Post reported in March of this year that Camping was getting out of the prediction business. The 90-year-old said he was asking for forgiveness for his sin in predicting Judgment Day, and has stopped trying to pinpoint future dates. "We realize that many people are hoping they will know the date of Christ's return," Camping wrote. "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing." (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) less

We almost feel sorry for him: Harold Camping is one of the prolific forecasters of doom in America. He predicted the end would come in 1994, 1995, May 2011 and Oct. 2011, with the rapture and earthquakes being ... more

Photo: 2011 Getty Images

We almost feel sorry for him: Harold Camping is one of the... Photo-3910884.54077 - Times Union

Image 6 of 24

In 2007, either all of us or just some really big portion of us were supposed to go up in nuclear flames, according to Pat Robertson, who’s made a career out of predictions give him by God … though apparently those messages are pretty vague. In 1976, Robertson predicted that the world would come to an end in 1982, the Village Voice wrote. "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world," he said during a broadcast of The 700 Club, a show he hosts on the Christian Broadcasting Network. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) less

In 2007, either all of us or just some really big portion of us were supposed to go up in nuclear flames, according to Pat Robertson, who’s made a career out of predictions give him by God … though ... more

Photo: AFP

In 2007, either all of us or just some really big portion of us... Photo-3910883.54077 - Times Union

Image 7 of 24

The Nibiru collision was supposed to happen in May 2003, according to Nancy Lieder. Reportedly, aliens in the Zeta Reticuli star system told her “through messages via a brain implant” of the collision. The website Space.com writes: “After a collision-free year, the date was moved back to 2012, where it was linked to the close of the Mayan long-count period.” This was an obvious date-grab for her, so we’re keeping her down here in the early 2000s.
(Photo shows V838 Mon, a star with an expanding light echo, purported as photographic evidence of Nibiru. NASA) less

The Nibiru collision was supposed to happen in May 2003,... Photo-3910882.54077 - Times Union

Image 8 of 24

Called an “ interesting prediction” by the London paper The Independent, a columnist for The Nation of Islam, Tynetta Muhammad, that the world would end in 2001. Apparently, the United Kingdom paper found her prediction interesting because it was based on a lot of math … or numerology. You can find several videos of her on “ YouTube. (Photo is a screen grab from video) less

Called an “ interesting prediction” by the London paper The Independent, a columnist for The Nation of Islam, Tynetta Muhammad, that the world would end in 2001. Apparently, the United Kingdom paper found ... more

Called an “ interesting prediction ” by the London paper The... Photo-3910881.54077 - Times Union

Image 9 of 24

The granddaddy of all days until this Friday has been Jan. 1 2000. You remember the hysteria … the world’s computers would crash and all hell would break loose. Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, Jerry Falwell are probably three of the best known figures predicting Y2K meltdown. Falwell saw more than a technological glitch in the year 2000 computer problem. "Y2K may be God's instrument to shake this nation, to humble this nation," Falwell, the Lynchburg, Va.-based preacher proclaimed, according to the Washington Post. Predicting "a possibility of catastrophe," he suggests that Y2K could "start a revival that spreads (over) the face of the Earth before the Rapture of the Church." (Photo: Tim LaHaye (L) and Jerry B. Jenkins. Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images) less

The granddaddy of all days until this Friday has been Jan. 1 2000. You remember the hysteria … the world’s computers would crash and all hell would break loose. Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins, Jerry Falwell ... more

Photo: 2004 Getty Images

The granddaddy of all days until this Friday has been Jan. 1 2000.... Photo-3910880.54077 - Times Union

Image 10 of 24

Now for Hon-Ming Chen, leader of the Taiwanese cult God’s Salvation Church. We can’t put it better than this: “A Taiwanese cult leader who claims he fathered Jesus 2,000 years ago and now talks to God through a ring on his finger has brought his followers into this Dallas suburb to await God's appearance in a flying saucer,” CNN reported just before the predicted doom in 1998. Apparently, he tried again for December 1999. We know how that turned out.
(Photo: Members of God's Salvation Church, speaks to one of the group's interpreters in Garland, Texas after the failed prediction. Paul Buck/AFP/Getty Images) less

Now for Hon-Ming Chen, leader of the Taiwanese cult God’s Salvation Church. We can’t put it better than this: “A Taiwanese cult leader who claims he fathered Jesus 2,000 years ago and now talks to God ... more

Photo: AFP

Now for Hon-Ming Chen , leader of the Taiwanese cult God’s... Photo-3910878.54077 - Times Union

Image 11 of 24

Channeling a variety of dead sources, Elizabeth Clare Prophet said nuclear Armageddon would commence on April 23, 1990. The New York Times wrote this about her cult and prediction in 2009, the year she died. “In the late 1980s, Mrs. Prophet issued warnings of an impending nuclear strike by the Soviet Union against the United States. More than 2,000 of her followers left their homes and gathered at the church’s compound near Corwin Springs, Mont., near the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park. There they began stockpiling weapons, food and clothing in underground bomb shelters. … when the predicted attack did not occur, and church members began returning home.” (Photo: Elizabeth Clare Prophet in front of the chapel at the summit of Croagh Patrick, Ireland, 1980. Wikimedia Commons.) less

Channeling a variety of dead sources, Elizabeth Clare Prophet said nuclear Armageddon would commence on April 23, 1990. The New York Times wrote this about her cult and prediction in 2009, the year she died. ... more

“Too Clever by half” is what John Gribbin said of his prediction of the end of the world after it didn’t happen, according to his author bio on Goodreads. “In 1974, Gribbin published, along with Stephen Plagemann, a book titled The Jupiter Effect, that predicted that the alignment of the planets in quadrant on one side of the Sun on March 10, 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.” less

“Too Clever by half” is what John Gribbin said of his... Photo-3910875.54077 - Times Union

Image 13 of 24

Many doomsday predictions end in horrific deaths (think Jim Jones), and few captured the world’s attention more than the ordered killed by Charles Manson. About.com wraps it up: “Manson believed (the) song ‘Helter Skelter’ predicted an upcoming race war. ‘Helter skelter,’ Manson believed, was going to occur in the summer of 1969 when blacks were going to rise up and slaughter all the white people. He told his followers that they would be saved because they would go underground, literally, by traveling to an underground city of gold located in Death Valley. However, when the Armageddon that Manson had predicted did not occur, he said he and his followers must show the blacks how to do it.” (AP Photo/File) less

Many doomsday predictions end in horrific deaths (think Jim Jones), and few captured the world’s attention more than the ordered killed by Charles Manson. About.com wraps it up: “Manson believed (the) song ... more

American actress Sharon Tate (1943 - 1969), second wife of film director Roman Polanski, in London. She was murdered by followers of Charles Manson the notorious serial killer. (Photo: Keystone/Getty Images)

American actress Sharon Tate (1943 - 1969), second wife of film director Roman Polanski, in London. She was murdered by followers of Charles Manson the notorious serial killer. (Photo: Keystone/Getty Images)

The leader of a UFO cult from the 1950s, Dorothy Marin, claimed the world would be destroyed by floods on Dec. 21, 1954 (So close!). Most what came out of her failed prediction was the book “When Prophecy Fails.” The writers “recruited a team of observers, joined the movement, and watched it from within under great difficulties until its crisis came and went. Their report is of interest as much for the method as for the substance,” one reviewer of the book said. less

The leader of a UFO cult from the 1950s, Dorothy Marin, claimed the world would be destroyed by floods on Dec. 21, 1954 (So close!). Most what came out of her failed prediction was the book “When Prophecy ... more

The leader of a UFO cult from the 1950s, Dorothy Marin , claimed... Photo-3910871.54077 - Times Union

Image 16 of 24

Another end-of-the-worlder who predicted cataclysm for 1936, 1943, 1972 and 1975, the 80-year-old Herbert Armstrong, married a 38-year-old woman after his last prediction failed, according to Wikipedia. He was the founder of the Worldwide Church of God.
(Photo: Screen grab from YouTube video: “The Worldwide Church of God — The Profits of Doom”) less

Another end-of-the-worlder who predicted cataclysm for 1936, 1943, 1972 and 1975, the 80-year-old Herbert Armstrong, married a 38-year-old woman after his last prediction failed, according to Wikipedia. He was ... more

Another end-of-the-worlder who predicted cataclysm for 1936, 1943,... Photo-3910870.54077 - Times Union

Image 17 of 24

In the late 1880s a Paiute mystic called Wovoka (Jack Wilson) spread the Ghost Dance among Indian tribes across the West. An ethnologist found Wovoka's message “The Promise of the Ghost Dance” in 1891, after Wovoka’s prophecy failed: “Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon the earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are still alive again. I do not know when they will be here; maybe this fall or in the spring. When the time comes there will be no more sickness and everyone will be young again.” PBS wrote that the “slaughter of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890 was cruel proof that whites were not about to simply vanish, that the millennium was not at hand. Wovoka quickly lost his notoriety and lived as Jack Wilson until sometime in 1932.” (Photo: Wovoka. Wikimedia Commons) less

In the late 1880s a Paiute mystic called Wovoka (Jack Wilson)... Photo-3910869.54077 - Times Union

Image 18 of 24

The Ghost dance by the Ogallala [sic] Sioux at Pine Ridge Agengy-Drawn by Frederic Remington from sketches taken on the spot. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Ghost dance by the Ogallala [sic] Sioux at Pine Ridge Agengy-Drawn by Frederic Remington from sketches taken on the spot. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Ghost dance by the Ogallala [sic] Sioux at Pine Ridge... Photo-3910868.54077 - Times Union

Image 19 of 24

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, figured the beginning of the end would be in 1836. Turns out his church, a staple in communities around the globe, benefited from the continuation of life as they knew it.
(John Wesley, by William Hamilton. Wikimedia Commons) less

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, figured the beginning of the end would be in 1836. Turns out his church, a staple in communities around the globe, benefited from the continuation of life as ... more

John Wesley , the founder of the Methodist Church, figured the... Photo-3910867.54077 - Times Union

Image 20 of 24

Nothing can make you feel dumber than a chicken prophet. The Prophet Hen of Leeds made the Christian Science Monitor’s “ Five failed end-of-the-world predictions” in celebration of Harold Camping’s 2011 prediction. The CSM writer quotes from Charles Mackay's 1841 book, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," that the duped “soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again into the bird’s body. At this explanation, those who had prayed, now laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore." (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) less

Nothing can make you feel dumber than a chicken prophet. The... Photo-3910866.54077 - Times Union

Image 21 of 24

Christopher Columbus, you may remember, was an explorer and “discoverer” but he was also a doomsdayer! Here’s how one university professor put it for a PBS series on the apocalypse: … if we look at the history of Columbus and some of his writings, particularly his letters and in the ‘Book of Prophecies’ that he put together, we can see that Columbus thought of himself very much in terms of the apocalyptic tradition. And he felt that his voyages of discovery were ushering in a millennial age, an age of a Last World Emperor, a Spanish Last World Emperor, who would recapture the holy apocalyptic city of Jerusalem and initiate a messianic period.” (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) less

Christopher Columbus, you may remember, was an explorer and “discoverer” but he was also a doomsdayer! Here’s how one university professor put it for a PBS series on the apocalypse: … if we look at the ... more

Christopher Columbus , you may remember, was an explorer and... Photo-3910865.54077 - Times Union

Image 22 of 24

Martin Luther is famous for a lot of things, not the least of which is the whole Protestant Reformation, and he also got into the prediction game. According to the website Ministry Magazine, which calls itself an international journal for pastors, “Luther was so impressed by the precariousness of the times in 1528 that he expected the end to come before he had time to finish the translation of the Old Testament.” That would be around 1540 because he calculated the world was 5,500 years old. (Photo: Jesus. Wikimedia Commons) less

Martin Luther is famous for a lot of things, not the least of which is the whole Protestant Reformation, and he also got into the prediction game. According to the website Ministry Magazine, which calls itself ... more

Martin Luther is famous for a lot of things, not the least of... Photo-3910891.54077 - Times Union

Image 23 of 24

What about before the beginning of the “Common Era”? There was Zoroastrianism. Looking around the web, there’s a lot of give and take about exactly what end and how the Iranian prophet Zarathustra was talking about in rough 1300 BCE, but here’s what The New York times said in 1999: “Zoroastrians ‘taught that the world has a beginning and an end and forms the field of a cosmic battle between good and evil,’ between Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, and Ahriman, who is wicked, said James Russell, a professor at Harvard University. Zoroaster never specified a date for the world's end. But ‘he suggested it would end with the coming of a savior; and that the world would then be cleansed of death and wickedness and people would rise from the dead,’ Mr. Russell said.”
(Photo: A Zoroastrian priest with Bactrian-style head-dress from 3rd-2nd century BCE. Wikimedia Commons.) less

What about before the beginning of the “Common Era”? There was Zoroastrianism. Looking around the web, there’s a lot of give and take about exactly what end and how the Iranian prophet Zarathustra was ... more

What about before the beginning of the “Common Era”? There was... Photo-3910890.54077 - Times Union